Enamor
by korovee
Summary: A brief look into the Mako Mori and Raleigh Becket household after the Breach is closed. Even without the Drift, they still manage to surprise each other after a year of being together.


It was Raleigh who first suggested they live a little further away from a seaside town, close enough to enjoy the breeze but far enough to enjoy some privacy. They settled in one of the towns to the east of the world, where the nerves that had never really settled since Slattern last fell a year ago. They would sit in silence sometimes, absorbing each other's presence while Mako studied out of a new book or when they fiddled with some broken furniture. On occasions they would sit and listen to Shibuya pop which Mako insisted reminded her of him—corny but cute.

They've only been settled for three months when she awakens one morning with a wet nose and a tiny lick to the face. Warm brown eyes greet her lovingly, unconditional affection littering her face as the puppy sprawled itself clumsy over her chest. Raleigh beamed proudly from the foot of the bed, laughing as the puppy wriggled up to cover her face. She'd never had a pet—her parents died when she was young and living with Pentecost had meant never having the luxury of a pet. Not that she'd had the time to care or desire one. However as she held the wiggling dog in her hands, she couldn't feel happier.

It becomes habit for the puppy to sleep at the foot of their bed, for it to wake them in the mornings with an abundance of kisses and padded paws to their faces. Raleigh gets used to the schedule the fastest; already awake before the puppy is pouncing on his chest. He lets Mako sleep, quietly changing and letting the puppy outside to relieve itself while he sets the coffee maker to start. He slips the leash on and goes out for an early morning run, the puppy trailing behind him for a few minutes before he scoops it up and carries it the rest of the way. He still finds it amusing how it seems more exhausted than he does when it really only runs a few blocks before taking a seat and crying because it got left behind. The puppy drinks the most water when he gets back twenty minutes later, despite him letting it drink from his own water bottle halfway through the run.

He wakes Mako up a few minutes after arriving home with a light and simple breakfast on a tray. She doesn't wake to the sound of it being placed on the table beside her at first, but smiles sleepily as he kisses her awake instead. The puppy joins in sometimes, pressing its tiny muzzle between them until it can get the attention it demands. Raleigh complains when it does this but Mako knows that he doesn't honestly care.

She doesn't wake up as quickly as him—it's still a fast rising once she's on her feet but while she's still in bed, the comfort of the blankets are enough to drag her back under the fog of sleep at least once. Once she's up and on her feet, she tends to either eat breakfast, read the paper that Raleigh buys while on his run or joins him for the shower that he has yet to take. It's usually the latter.

They spend most of their weeks working and weekends relaxing. Raleigh takes up odd jobs around town for the sake of keeping busy; they've more than enough money to cover their costs for a lifetime but it's hardly ever touched. They both feel like living carefree isn't a lifestyle they would prefer. Mako begins a small garden that eventually takes over their front and backyard—most of their food ends up being homegrown and they give away a lot of the vegetables to the large families in town, as well as anyone they find on the street. They never sell any of the crops. Most of the families in town are happy to share whatever they have—Raleigh teases that they're the overly friendly honey-mooners on the hill. Mako never fails to remind them that they live there, not on a honeymoon, but he ignores her and treats her like every night was their first together anyways.

She rides the bike down into town every Wednesday with a basket full of home grown vegetables and the puppy carefully placed inside her jacket. The townspeople find it endearing and adorable how it joins the fun every week, popping out of the top of her jacket whenever someone approaches. She places it in the basket on her way back in the afternoons with the mail, chastising quietly whenever it nibbles at the envelopes stuffed beside her. Its late afternoon by the time she gets back and the smell of a freshly cooked meal always wafts out to greet her at the porch. Raleigh always takes Wednesday off to make her lunch, somehow having the food warm and ready just as she arrives home. He's already waiting at the doorway by the time she's gotten off the bike, still clad in an apron when he plucks the mail out of the puppy's mouth and kisses her, joking light heartedly about how he's missed his girls.

They eat out on the back porch, listening to their wind chimes sing in the ocean breeze and watching the puppy dart in and out of the garden as they toss it bites of food. Raleigh complains that she'll get unhealthy and fall out of shape but he throws the most tidbits of food.

Tendo comes to visit occasionally, bringing along Herc and Max if he can manage to find an off day. They stay for dinner and sometimes the night when someone breaks out the booze. Mako is the first to wake up those days, ignoring the mess of boys that can't hold their liquor and feeding the dogs loudly to express her distaste towards their shenanigans. Not that she hadn't taken a sip or two—she just preferred they drink what they could handle rather than listen to them bemoan all morning. She secretly believed Herc faked his hangovers for the sake of allowing the other two to feel better about their hangovers. On those days Raleigh made sure to bring her wild flowers during the day, quietly leaving them wrapped in old newspaper somewhere she could see while he nursed his migraines.

When winter came, it arrived with a sharp bite and angry sting, the frigid winds kissing Mako's cheeks until they were red from the chill. Raleigh would leave an oversized sweater out on the edge of the bed every morning, somehow already warm for her. She had plenty of warm winter wear but he insisted that wearing his giant sweaters would bring good luck. The one day she'd outright refused to wear it (it wasn't as cold as he made it out to be) Raleigh had complained by donning her own cardigan and taking the dog out for a walk. She didn't have to tell him how dumb the idea had been when he got back; the goose bumps that spread across his chest and the chattering of his teeth were enough punishment. Later that night, he admitted it was a stupid idea but it only proved that her cardigans were _clearly_ not warm enough for the weather.

She replied that it had been raining and she was only going to take the dog out to relieve itself before succumbing to the soft lull of sleep.

They argued a lot—without the Drift, a worry seemed to fill Raleigh like a sickness sometimes. She understood. Once you drifted, it felt like there was nothing to talk about anymore. Tendo called them the quiet couple but the truth was that sometimes they really didn't feel like words could express what was in their mind. That was how they started sharing the bed in the Dome, one sheepish night when they met in the hall with sole purpose of feeling the presence of the other. It wasn't anything romantic, just a need to feel a human presence in order to calm the vast emptiness that overtook their minds outside the Drift.

It worried her at times, to see him come back home at night with a weary cloud hanging overhead. His shoulders would slump and she would have to coax him back to her like he once did for her, that first time in the Drift. She understood that while the Kaiju were gone, their memories were not. On those days she would cook everything, let him go to bed early, and then curl close to his chest with the dog warming their toes. No words had to be spoken but he appreciated the gestures all the same.

Still, she felt warmth flooding her chest whenever he waved at her in the street as she flew past with the dog on the bike. He would ignore the dumb wide smile on his face as she rounded back to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before heading off again, laughing to himself as he went back to work. He would relish the grateful loving expression she awoke with every morning as he kissed her awake and she in return could not express the way the warmth of his sweaters compared to the way his open loving relationship kindled her heart. The look they shared every evening before falling asleep and the smile that was reciprocated every time their eyes meant that nothing else need be said.


End file.
